An ongoing diary of the progress of my young horse, Wolfie's, education.

Wolfie the Wonder Horse!

Wolfie, 24/02/08

Friday, 20 July 2012

In the land of the Little People

Big changes for Wolfie this week. I walk past Wolfie's field to get to my car every night. Last Sunday as I walked down the road past the field, Wolfie was up to his belly in grass, literally. The electric fencing had been moved around 30 feet in width, the whole length of the field. Wolfie was skipping around in the long grass thinking all his Christmases had came at once. Wolfie just can't have access to that type or amount of grass. I am trying to get more weight off him and he can easily put weight on in the space of hours on grass like that. He can't possibly be expected to be athletic and have a useful working life when he is carrying too much weight. I tossed and turned all night, worrying about him on the grass. Eventually I made the decision to do the only thing I haven't yet tried....put him in with the ponies. Wolfie has never been allowed in with Buttons as he tends to be too rough trying to get him to play and ends up using Buttons as a football. There is also a rule at the yard that mares and geldings are kept in separate fields and do not get to touch over fence lines (Buttons is the exception to this rule as he lives with girls). When I got to the stables on Monday, Wolfie had exhausted himself gorging on the grass all night and spent most of the morning sleeping off his grass hangover in his stable. Once he'd woken up, I turned him out with the ponies and stayed down in the field poo picking so I could keep an eye on them. He was fine, he tends to herd the ponies around a little bit, but he doesn't rush them and he's not being mean to them. It's not completely ideal as there is probably too little grass in there for him and they are all supplemented morning and night with soaked hay. But this way I might actually get him down to an indeal weight whereas at the moment he has sort of plauteued and is back to putting weight on. He was a bit upset to start with as he has been in the same field with the other geldings since he was 2. He can still see the other boys, so he did a lot of shouting the first couple of nights and he kicked off when he saw one of the boys being led down to the field which resulted in a puffy fetlock (near hind this time). He didn't really understand the piles of hay being put out in the field and cantered around jumping them. The ponies were most annoyed as they were both standing at a pile eating during all of this. He is settling more every day and I know it's the best option I've got to get the weight off him. He's got company and he doesn't need to wear the grazing muzzle.

Either Buttons has said something funny or Wolfie thinks I'm having a laugh putting him in a field with hardly any grass

A feed Rep from Dengie is coming to the yard mid August and they are bringing a weigh bridge with them. It will be interesting to know all 3 of their weights as the weigh tape is not really that accurate.

Wolfie is sound (apart from the puffy fetlock). I long reined him a few times last week and I hope to take him for a short hack tomorrow. The weather once more has been most unkind and I don't know how anyone (without an indoor school) is managing to get any sort of consistent riding done.

About Me

I own Wolfie, a part bred TB, and two rescue miniature Shetland Ponies called Buttons and Honey. I have an interest in all things horsey and like to find unusual and funky products. I also like to find horse products that work and that suit my horses' needs. My reviews are honest and based on my life-long love and experience of working with horses. I hold a BSc in Equine Studies from Nottingham Trent University but a lot of my knowledge and experience has been picked up along the way, as a rider and owner. I also hold my BHS Stages.